Recap: Rangers Surrender Game-Winner With 15 Seconds Remaining, Lose 5–4 to Colorado

In their second meeting in the last eleven days, the Rangers hosted the Colorado Avalanche in search of revenge for their 3-2 loss in overtime on the road a week and a half ago. With Colorado on the second half of a back-to-back having lost in Boston the night prior, the Rangers should of had the slight advantage but still had to fight their another close one. Despite tying the game in the final five minutes, the Rangers gave up a bad late goal to cost themselves a key pair of points as they continue to battle back for a playoff spot.

1st Period: 

The first five minutes or so were just about what you would expect from a weekend matinee game but once the two team’s settled in, the action was nonstop. Close to six minutes in, the Avalanche took the lead as a shot from Keaton Middleton at the point redirected off of Jack Drury’s stick in the slot for his first with Colorado. Definitely not the player involved in the Mikko Rantanen blockbuster you’d expect to score first with their new team. 1-0 game. 

Less than 45 seconds later, Nathan Mackinnon made a last ditch effort pass while falling through the neutral zone to move the puck up to his new right hand man in Martin Necas. Necas was then able to find a breaking Cale Makar who isn’t going to miss on a chance like that. Hard shot off the post and in to extend Colorado’s lead, 2-0. 

The Rangers needed to stop the bleeding and who else but Sam Carrick? It can’t be overstated, this fourth line has been fantastic for the Rangers as of late and Matt Rempe made an extraordinary play behind the net to find Carrick with a cross crease pass. Carrick was right there at the doorstep to put it home, bringing them within one, 2-1. 

The Avalanche nearly made it a 3-1 game soon after but after some brilliant efforts from Igor Shesterkin, Panarin was able to clear the zone. As he moved the puck ahead to his linemates, Alexis Lafrenière led an odd-man rush into the offensive zone. While more than half the fan base was likely screaming for him to shoot the puck, Lafrenière remained confident with the puck and pulled off a nice move to get the pass to Trocheck who fired it home to tie it up, 2-2. 

With just under six minutes to go in the opening period, the Rangers were caught in their own end of the ice for an extended shift which resulted in them taking the first penalty of the outing. Adam Fox essentially high fived Parker Kelly in the face and was called for holding. It would only take the Avalanche 22 seconds to convert on the power play as a shot from Makar at the point went through traffic to beat Shesterkin, regaining the lead now 3-2. 

The Rangers had a great chance to answer right back as Filip Chytil had Chris Kreider on an odd-man rush and was able to feed him for a quick one timer that Blackwood was able to turn away. That line would close out the period with a real good chance to tie it but Mackenzie Blackwood stood tall and the horn would sound as they continued to push. 

An action packed period as the Rangers trailed 3-2 after twenty. Shots on goal were 12-11 in Colorado’s favor with both team’s credited with eleven scoring chances. The Rangers actually led in the high danger count 6-3 and were doing a good job blocking shots and winning face-offs.

2nd Period:

We talked a great deal about Arthur Kaliyev having a “shoot first mentality”. Perfect example of that came just a few minutes into the period as that line continued to put strong pressure on Blackwood and the Avalanche’s defenders. Kaliyev alone had three shots on goal on top of the ones that came from Chytil to get the chance started. For as great as the fourth line has been, the third line has seemed to be clicking quite well with each other as well. 

Aside from that and a bit of a hectic shift in the Rangers own end closer to the midway point, all pace that was established in the opening period seemed to fade out significantly. With about eleven and a half to go, Adam Edström’s stick blade clipped Necas’ skate to send the Rangers back to the penalty kill. Colorado absolutely dominated on the power play, keeping the Rangers penalty killers out there for the entirety of those two minutes. In the midst of the exhaustion that the group faced, Necas hit the post twice and easily would have scored had it not been for the brilliance of Igor Shesterkin. 

Things slowed back down after the penalty kill and with just four minutes to go in the period, a sloppy clear attempt from Panarin was picked up by Casey Mittelstadt who dished it over to Jusso Parsinen. Shesterkin was a little slow to react to the one timer from up high as the shot beat him awkwardly low glove to make it a 4-2 game. 

The Rangers needed another quick bounce back and sure enough, with just under two minutes to go, a great shift from the Rangers resulted in them bringing the game back within one. A quick one timer from Reilly Smith in the slot trickled through Blackwood and a pinching Will Borgen was right there to put the loose puck home, 4-3 game. As Sam and Joe mentioned on the broadcast, that’s a way to celebrate your new contract. 

Shots were 23-20 in favor of the Rangers after forty minutes. A potential game changing moment as the Borgen goal was much needed prior to the team heading into the second intermission but there was still plenty of work to do down by a goal. 

3rd Period:

The Rangers had a close call to start the period as a shot from Samuel Girard took a weird redirect to hit the post and come out the other side. Thankfully, they were able to get a whistle soon after and as play went the other way, the Rangers would finally get their first power play. After an athletic play from Adam Fox to keep the puck in the zone, Mittelstadt took him down along the boards to earn a cross-checking penalty. 

Massive power play opportunity for the Rangers alas, it would get off to a sloppy start that soon resulted in a breakaway chance for Logan O’Connor that was sent just wide of the net. From that point on, they weren’t able to generate much until the teams returned to even strength as Chytil continued to generate offense everytime he was on the ice and had the chance to do so. 

Just over five minutes into the period, a confident zone entry from Colorado resulted in Cale Makar firing one home for what would have been his third of the night. However, credit to the officials who had otherwise not really been in the Rangers’ favor all night, for immediately waving the goal off as Miles Wood was interfering too much with Shesterkin and his crease. While it was technically Lafrenière who made contact and was in Shesterkin’s way of making the save, Wood was the reason for all that congestion in the blue paint therefore, no goal. 

The Rangers continued to push but time was quickly running out. With just under five minutes to go, a nice feed from Smith set up Vincent Trocheck for a one timer at the side of the face-off circle. Blackwood came up with the save but Panarin was right there to get just enough on it for the puck to find the back of the net, tying the game up 4-4. 

After another strong push, the Rangers caught a break as the Avalanche were called for a holding the stick penalty with just about two and a half to go in the outing. With all the momentum in the Rangers favor, they never needed a power play goal as bad as they did at that moment. After coming up short one minute in, the Rangers used their timeout with a minute twenty to go in regulation. They had some looks but just couldn’t find the back of the net. 

As Makar returned from the penalty box, he was able to pick off a pass from Borgen intended for Artemi Panarin. That created a 3-on-1 chance for Colorado that Shesterkin didn’t stand a chance on. Arrturi Lehkonen put it home and pretty much ended the game right then and there. With not enough time to generate anything else, the Rangers dropped a disappointing pair of points after battling their way back into it with five minutes to go. 

They’re back at it on home ice Tuesday for a matchup with the team responsible for the other half of the Mikko Rantanen blockbuster, the Carolina Hurricanes.